Dr. Huerta earned his professional degrees at La Universidad del Zulia (LUZ), Venezuela (Veterinary Medicine, 1972) and at Texas A&M University (MS, 1976; Ph. D, 1991) and is an Emeritus Professor (1978 to 1997) at the Agronomy School of LUZ. From 1999 to 2015, he worked as the Director of Technical Services for the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) in Mexico. His main research interests are animal growth, yield and quality of meat from large ruminant species, meat grading, and meat nutrient composition. Nelson has authored or co-authored 105 refereed journal articles and has edited 3 books and 11 book chapters. He is a board member of the International Stockman Educational Foundation. Dr. Huerta is an active member of the American Meat Science Association and the Mexican Meat Science and Technology Association. Dr. Huerta is continuing his scientific work as a Research Aide of the Department of Animal and Food Sciences of Texas Tech University.